On December 7, 2015, the 2016 Grammy Award nominations were announced — and, as they were, the world erupted in celebration and excitement for the artists nominated. But, for those fans who were rooting for artists who had been snubbed, the reaction was definitely a different one. Fans of artists like One Direction and Nicki Minaj took one look at the list of 2016 Grammy Award nominees and furrowed their brow. Wait a second now… where were their favorite artists in that ample list of those being recognized for their work over the last year? Fans of Beyoncé, for example, probably did exactly what I did: Scanned quickly through the nominations list and then threw an utter fit. Because why in the world wasn’t Beyoncé nominated for a 2016 Grammy for “Feeling Myself,” her collaboration with Minaj?

In this case, it’s not a matter of Bey missing the cut off date. In the case of a lot of artists I was expecting to see on the nominations list this year, their albums unfortunately came out too late to qualify. The Adele and Justin Bieber fans of the world will, unfortunately, have to wait an entire calendar year just to see their idols nominated. But, Beyoncé? Her collaboration with Nicki Minaj was released on December 12, 2014 when Minaj’s album The Pinkprint first dropped, and that date is well within the Oct. 1, 2014 to Sept. 30, 2015 eligibility period stated within the official Grammy Awards FAQ. So there is only one reason why Beyoncé wasn’t nominated this year…

Make no bones about it, there were a number of artists this year that were passed over for those artists whose albums hit hard when they were released. Littering the list of nominations are artists like Taylor Swift and The Weeknd, to absolutely no one’s surprise. But, man, couldn’t they have made room in at least one of the categories for Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj’s fantastically affirming song about self-love?

The answer is yes. The answer is always yes.

But unfortunately for Beyoncé fans, the Grammys chose not to. Which means the most we can hope for from the 2016 Grammy Awards is a fierce appearance from Queen Bey, maybe as an award presenter, and a fabulous dress to go with it.